The Inspiration4 crew shows off their amazing view of Earth through their Crew Dragon spacecraft's domed window.
After being captured by Sian Proctor, crewmember on the mission, the 90-second video was uploaded to Inspiration4 YouTube channel on Wednesday, Sept. 22.
As the background music plays, the video shows Chris Sembroski (the crewmember who booked and commanded SpaceX) lifting the cover off the dome. Hayley Arceneaux, along with her crewmates, gets her equipment ready and gazes out of the window in awe.
Inspiration4: SpaceX's historic private flight in photos
Earth seen through the cupola window on SpaceX's Crew Dragon vehicle, Resilience. Image credit: Inspiration4/Sian proctor
Crew Dragon normally carries a docking port to allow for International Space Station activities. Crew Dragon was not required to visit the orbiting laboratory on this mission. Instead, Inspiration4 crewmembers used a dome window, or cupola to view Earth from 367 miles (590 km) above ground. This is higher than Crew Dragon has ever flown. The ISS is approximately 250 miles (405 km) high.
Elon Musk, SpaceX's CEO and founder, said that the 360-degree view it offered was truly amazing when he first demonstrated the cupola in March. Crew Dragon also has windows astronauts can use. However, they are smaller and lay flat along the capsule’s sides. Musk posted on Twitter late March that "probably most in space" you could feel being in a glass dome.
The Inspiration4 mission had two main goals: to raise $200 million for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, Memphis, Tennessee. Crew members spoke to a few St. Jude patients from space, including one treated by Arceneaux, a child cancer survivor and physician assistant at St. Jude today.
Inspiration4 raised more than its goal on landing day. The all-civil crew often spoke out about the diversity of its crewmembers, and how it helped them in spaceflight.
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